Google is about to kill off a big feature in its struggling social network

Google+ is a ghost town. Brave New Films/Flickr (CC) Following the launch of its new Photos app in May, Google is preparing to kill off the photo features within Google+, its struggling social network.

The move is part of an "effort to ensure everyone has the best photos experience we can deliver," and even after Google+ Photos stops working, users' media "will still remain safely stored and available via http://photos.google.com or for export using Google Takeout."

Blogger Kevin Anderson plotted the data to show the fraction of registered Google+ accounts that allegedly use the service:

The closure of Google+ Photos is expected. Back at the launch of Google Photos, exec Bradley Horowitz (who oversees Google+) said the company is "looking at what the users are telling us Google Plus is good for, and doubling down on those uses," as well as "moving aside the things that either belong as independent products, like photos, or eliminating things that we think aren't working."

Horowitz maintains that Google+ is not "dead." He told Backchannel in May that "it's got more signs of life than it's had in some time." However, he says, "it's fair to say you're about to see a huge shift in what Plus is becoming."